1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automatic car wash correlator systems having a plurality of low friction rollers designed to bring the front wheels of an automobile into alignment with the car wash drive tract; and, more particularly, to a correlator system, the safety of which is enhanced by providing the rollers with a braking device that prevents movement thereof when persons step or walk on the correlator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous patents disclose correlators and other wheel guiding systems for use in car washes and ship deck loading devices. The wheel position of the wheels an automobile must be aligned exactly with the mechanical drive track or handling machinery of the car wash, to move the vehicle through the car wash facility. The front end of the automobile drives over a set of low friction easy to rotate rollers, while the left side wheel of the automobile is physically displaced in the direction perpendicular to the vehicle movement direction. Displacement is effected by two converging guide bars that bring the left wheel into precise alignment with the mechanical drive track. Conventionally, the roller shafts are supported on low friction ultra high molecular weight polyethylene sleeve bearings. Rotation is initiated in response to wheel pressure and the guiding action of the guide bars. It may also be initiated inadvertently when a car wash operator steps on the rollers. Such inadvertent rotational motion of the rollers oftentimes causes the operators to lose their balance and fall or otherwise incur significant injury through contact with heavy metallic components, such as guide bars and the like, which are present in the surrounding area.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,085,329 to Porte discloses a device for loading and unloading wheeled loads on railway cars. A road vehicle is moved between two railway cars, one of which is a loading car and the other is the car on which a road vehicle is to be conveyed. A platform is fixed between the two railway cars and guiding means G along which the wheels slide during transfer. A plurality of rollers 21 are used below the wheel, providing relatively small friction to align the car from the loading car for movement to the conveyed railroad car. These low friction rollers are not provided with a friction generating element.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,310 to Fraser discloses a track means for wheeled vehicles. The track means guide and constrain a driverless vehicle in a car wash parking garage through use of a pair of treadways. Two longitudinally extending parallel strings of rollers extend along the top side of one of the treadways. The wheels on one side of the driverless vehicle are guided. The position of the driverless vehicle is changed by horizontal movement of wheel supports intermittently arranged along the path. The rollers are not provided with friction generating elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,720 to Crutchfield discloses a method and apparatus for controlling the movement of a vehicle along a prescribed path. A vehicle path controller has a plurality of cylindrical support rollers arranged in sections. The axis of rotation of each roller is substantially parallel to the prescribed path. An entrance ramp is positioned adjacent the initial roller section and facilitates the driving of the vehicle into the prescribed path. The rollers are rotatably connected to a framework and are conveniently arranged in two separate paths—one path for the left wheels and one path for the right wheels. Guide rollers are also connected to the framework but have an axis of rotation elevated with reference to the vehicle support rollers. The cylindrical support rollers are not provided with any friction generating device.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,167,044 and 5,177,825 to Belanger et al. disclose a compact drive-through vehicle wash. In this drive-through wash a vehicle is translated forwardly along a longitudinal axis that is representative of a conventional car wash system. The wash includes a frame affixed to the floor and sized to allow the vehicle to pass through. Right and left side washers are attached to the frame and are longitudinally aligned with one another for washing the right and left sides of the vehicle. Right and left side tire washers connected to the frame, and extending longitudinally generally parallel to the longitudinal axis, wash tires as the vehicle passes through the wash. A curtain washer is attached to the frame in lateral alignment with the right and left side washers and extends into the path of the vehicle. Right and left wraparound washers, each respectively having an elongated right and left booms are horizontally, pivotably attached to the frame on opposite sides, above the path of the vehicle, and extend rearward. Rotatable right and left wraparound wheels are supported on a pair of carriages that slide upon the elongated booms. The elongated booms pivot relative to the frame allowing the wraparound wheels to follow the contour of the vehicle passing through the wash. The overall assembly is a very compact apparatus that provides a relatively high quality wash in a limited time. The left wheel of the vehicle being washed is translated through the car wash. The patentee does not disclose how the left wheel of the vehicle being washed is brought into alignment with the conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,061 to Stufflebeam discloses an automatic conveyor system with damage-free guide rails. The guide rail assembly is adapted for use with a conveyor of an automatic car wash. It comprises a main guide rail positioned outside the conveyor proximate the wheel portion of a vehicle. A lower guide rail extends below and away from the main guide rail toward the conveyor such that the lower guide rail contacts the tire below the wheel portion to maintain a spaced apart relationship between the wheel portion and the main guide rail. The addition of the lower guide rail prevents scratching, marring, or any other structural damage to the wheel portion of the vehicle. A correlator has a plurality of parallel rollers 26 with their longitudinal axis along the vehicle travel direction. The left front wheel is guided by angular guides 24 to the conveyor. No friction generating device is provided for the plurality of parallel rollers.
An Internet disclosure by Sonny, manufacturers of correlators at http://www.sonnysdirect.com/system_models_detail—100.html, discloses a correlator used to align the vehicle at the entrance of the conveyor. This simple design involves a plurality of low friction of parallel rollers, which guide the left front wheel of a vehicle. A pair of guides lead the left front wheel to the conveyor. No disclosure is contained by the Sonny publication concerning correlator braking system comprising a plurality of springs associated with low friction, parallel rollers.
An Internet disclosure by PECO, manufacturers of correlators for a car wash, at www.pecocarwash.com/new_site/PECO%20MANUALS/ discloses the manual for a PECO P3ss stainless steel correlator. The rollers are arranged for the left front wheel and right front wheel along the direction of movement of the vehicle in the car wash system. The left wheels are guided by a pair of inclined guides and the front end of the vehicle moves laterally due to the low friction roller support of front left and right wheels. The rollers are supported by low friction ultra high molecular weight (UHMW) polyethylene bushings, which have a very low coefficient of friction and thereby afford efficient roller movement against the stainless steel shafts of the rollers. These rollers are free running; so that a person stepping thereon will likely slip and fall. There are no friction generating devices provided in the roller assembly.
Notwithstanding the efforts of prior art workers to construct a correlator system that is safe to use and reliable in operation, no system has as yet been proposed which aligns a vehicle's tires with a car wash drive track and, at the same time, avoids hazards inherent to the very mechanism that facilitates the alignment process. Conventional correlator systems are made even more dangerous by the very features that operate to enhance movement of a vehicle's front end into alignment with the car wash conveyor drive. When car wash personnel walk across conventional correlators, the roller rotation inevitably triggered causes loss of balance and inadvertent contact with car wash machinery, which can lead to serious injury or even death. There is therefore a need in the art for a correlator system that is safe to use and highly reliable in operation—a correlator system which helps prevent operator injuries stemming from loss of balance, while providing satisfactory alignment of incoming vehicles with the car wash conveyor belt.